UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
13.7.17
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. The name of this country. The United
States, now thirty-one in number, are Alabama, Arkansas, Connecticut,
Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,
Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi,
Missouri, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York North Carolina, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont,
Virginia, Wisconsin, and California.
2. The territory of which these states are composed was at one time
dependent generally on the crown of Great Britain, though governed by
the local legislatures of the country. It is not within the plan of this
work to give a history of the colonies; on this subject the reader is
referred to Kent's Com. sect. 10; Story on the Constitution, Book 1; 8
Wheat. Rep. 543; Marshall, Hist. Colon.
3. The neglect of the British government to redress grievances which had
been felt by the people, induced the colonies to form a closer
connexion than their former isolated state, in the hopes that by a union
they might procure what they had separately endeavored in vain, to
obtain. In 1774, Massachusetts recommended that a congress of the
colonies should be assembled to deliberate upon the state of public
affairs; and on the fourth of September of the following year, the
delegates to such a congress assembled in Philadelphia. Connecticut,
Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York,
North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and
Virginia, were represented by their delegates; Georgia alone was not
represented. This congress, thus organized, exercised de facto and de
jure, a sovereign authority, not as the delegated agents of the
governments de facto of the colonies, but in virtue of the original
powers derived from the people. This, which was called the revolutionary
government, terminated only when superseded by the confederated
government under the articles of confederation, ratified in 1781. Serg.
on the Const. Intr. 7, 8.
4. The state of alarm and danger in which the colonies then stood
induced the formation of a second congress. The delegates, representing
all the states, met in May, 1775. This congress put the country in a
state of defence, and made provisions for carrving on the war with the
mother country; and for the internal regulations of which they were then
in need; and on the fourth day of July, 1776, adopted and issued the
Declaration of Independence. (q. v.) The articles of confederation, (q.
v.) adopted on the first day of March, 1781, 1 Story on the Const. §225;
1 Kent's Comm. 211, continued in force until the first Wednesday in
March, 1789, when the present constitution was adopted. 5 Wheat. 420.
5. The United States of America are a corporation endowed with the
capacity to sue and be sued, to convey and receive property. 1 Marsh.
Dec. 177, 181. But it is proper to observe that no suit can be brought
against the United States without authority of law.
6. The states, individually, retain all the powers which they possessed
at the formation of the constitution, and which have not been given to
congress. (q. v.)
7. Besides the states which are above enumerated, there are various
territories, (q. v.) which are a species of dependencies of the United
States. New states may be admitted by congress into this union; but no
new state shall be formed or erected within the jurisdiction of any
other state, nor any state be formed by the junction of two or more
states, or parts of states, without the consent of the legislatures of
the states concerned, as well as of congress. Const. art. 4, s. 3. And
the United States shall guaranty to every state in this union, a
republican form of government. Id. art. 4, s. 4. See the names of the
several states; and Constitution of the United States.
